Wintzell's Oyster House in Pittsburgh!

A few weeks ago, my girlfriend and I were driving on Rte. 51 south of Pittsburgh, only to spot a Wintzell's Oyster House. Imagine my surprise! Looking at their website, this appears to be the only location outside of Alabama. No idea why they chose the South Hills of Pittsburgh, but I am glad it is here. It is very close to where Mariton takes classes at CCAC, so we are meeting there for dinner tomorrow night. Although I accept the reality that it couldn't possibly be as good as the original location in Mobile, it will be nice to be able to get West Indies Salad anytime I get a hankering.

billyboy-I also saw that the great Skylight Inn was also in NYC over the weekend, participating in some kind of bbq cookoff. You didn't happen to make it to that, did you? What an opportunity that would have been!

Do the Oysters come from the Allegheny, Monongahela or the Ohio????Or maybe upstream from the Clarion???" />

I think you are messing with us as I am sure that oysters are salt water shellfish. I am sure that you knew that.

Paul E. Smith Knoxville, TN

So they will have to change the name to Wintzell's Mussel House instead.

I'm from Elk County, PA and there's a good chance Wintzells could be importing Mountain Oysters from up there. There's about 60,000 people in Elk County and over 100,000 Deer, not to mention Elk. So maybe they're Buck Oysters!!!

My girlfriend Mariton and I did eat at the new Wintzell's in the South Hills of Pittsburgh last Tuesday night. She is taking classes at nearby CCAC, which made it very convenient for her. I got there first, around 9:00PM. The place was mostly empty and the bored bartender asked me to come sit in his section. Since I wanted to watch the Pirates game and there was a big tv right there, it was an easy choice.

Once Mariton arrived, we started the ordering. First up was a dozen freshly shucked oysters. The bartender Ramon was also the shucker and here he is in action. We were told that these oysters were from the St. James River in Virginia and we had no idea they had oysters there. Mariton said they were a little on the sweet side and thoroughly enjoyed them.

I am not much of an oyster guy, but I was happy to order and eat some of the other LA (Lower Alabama) and Wintzell's favorites. First up, was the deep fried crab claws, which Mariton learned to love during our trip to Mobile on this year's Glee Club gathering. When the woman from the kitchen brought them to us, she said that this was the first time she had seen the crab claws ordered fried, as all the previous customers had them sauteed. Sauteed?!? Oh, you wacky yinzers! There also wasn't any dipping sauce for the claws, but they were happy to bring a container of remoulade sauce. The crab claws were thick, meaty and every bit as good as the ones we had in Mobile earlier in the year.

My personal favorite Wintzell's dish is the West Indies Salad (crabmeat and onion marinated in oil and vinegar). While in Mobile in March, I ordered the dish five times in three different restaurants and was disappointed how watered down it was. What we were served was a much better version. The crab meat certainly wasn't as fresh as what you would get closer to the gulf, but at least I didn't need a colander. BTW, did you notice what was missing in the WIS photo? No crackers! Once we got our crackers and started to eat it, both Ramon and the waitress watched us, saying we were the first ones they had seen to eat it this way.

After splitting three appetizers, we didn't have the room for an entree each, so Mariton and I decided to share the oyster sampler. On this platter, you will find four each of grilled oysters, Oysters Bienville, Oysters Rockefeller and Oysters Monterey. The Monterey, with the jalapenos, bacon and cheese were my favorite, while Mariton happily enjoyed them all.

Since this is a Wintzell's, they had the usual small signs covering every bit of wall space, each one with a funny witticism from restaurant owner Oliver Wintzell. The one thing that struck me as different (but understandable) was seeing the walls also have Pittsburgh sports memorabilia.

Needless to say, we were very happy with our food and the entire experience. Pittsburgh has a serious dearth of good seafood restaurants and even though this place is a good 45 minute drive from me, without traffic, we will be returning. Often!

I believe Michael Hoffman and lleechef are eating here on Thursday. Looking forward to hearing about their dinner.

We went to Wintzell's Oyster House in Pittsburgh last night. The food was great but the company was the best part as we had the pleasure of dining with buffetbuster and Mariton. I started with a dozen on the half-shell. Apparently the folks in the Burgh have learned "new math" because I had 15 oysters on my plate!! MH started with the West Indies salad which was delicious. Then we split a cup of gumbo which made us feel like we were in New Orleans, it was that good. For the main course we each had the Oyster Sampler......4 Rockefeller, 4 Bienville, 4 Monterey and 4 grilled. Terrific!!! We were all raving about Wintzell's in Mobile to the waitress and explaining why we were so thrilled to find them in the Pgh. area. Then the manager came over and we continued to talk about how much we enjoyed everything. Then.......the owner came to our table. We talked again about how much we like this restaurant. He offered to buy us a round of drinks! The food was great, the company was excellent and the folks at Wintzell's served up good old fashioned southern hospitality.......Pittsburgh style.